1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flexible LED illumination device, and more particularly to an improved flexible LED cable light.
2. Description of Related Art
LED cable lights have high brightness and low power consumption so they are usually decorative lights for houses, offices, stories, etc. Furthermore, the LED cable light is flexible so the LED cable light is easy to store and decorate curved places and is even portable. To decorate large exterior walls of buildings, the LED cable light must be waterproof, low cost, cuttable or joinable, etc.
To meet the forgoing requirements many types of LED cable lights have been developed. With reference to FIG. 14, a first type of conventional LED cable light has a pair of wires (20, 21), multiple LED chips (22) and an epoxy sheath (23). The wires (20, 21) are connected to low power source (not shown). Each LED chips (22) is connected between the pair of wires (20, 21), and the epoxy sheath (23) covers the pair of wires (20, 21) and the LED chips (22). Therefore, the first type of conventional LED cable light is waterproof function but cannot be cut or joined easily. Therefore, the first type of conventional LED cable light does not completely meets the forgoing requirements.
With reference to FIG. 15, a second type of conventional LED cable light includes an insulator substrate (25), wires (not shown) and LEDs (26).
The wires are on the insulator substrate (25), and the LEDs (26) are connected to the wires. The wires are usually made of aluminum, gold etc. The wires are expensive material so the second type of conventional LED cable light is not cheap. Furthermnore, the second type of conventional LED cable light does not have a joinable structure or connector so the cable light does not meet the necessary requirements.
With reference to FIG. 16, a third type of conventional LED cable light has a multi-layer substrate (27), conductors (28), LEDs (29), spacers (50) and lenses (51). The multi-layer substrate (27) has two opposite sides (not numbered), and the LEDs (29) and the two conductors (28) are mounted on the multi-layer substrate (27). The LEDs are connected to the two conductors (28), and the lenses are mounted across the two opposite sides to cover the LEDs and the two conductors (28). The third type of conventional LED cable light can be cut different lengths but has a very complex structure. Consequently, the fabricating cost of the third type of conventional LED cable light is higher than the other types described. Therefore, the third type does not meet the forgoing requirements either.
With reference to FIG. 17, a fourth type of conventional LED cable light includes an insulation layer (52), conductors (53) and LEDs (54). The conductors (53) are embedded in the insulation layer (52). Each LED (54) has two contacts (541) that puncture the insulation layer (52) and connects to the conductors (53). The fourth type of conventional LED cable light has a simple structure so the cable light is easy to fabricate and the cost is cheap. However, the fourth type of conventional LED cable light is not very waterproof because contacts (541) of the LED (54) puncture the insulation layer (52). Therefore, fourth type of conventional LED cable light does not meet the necessary requirements.
With reference to FIG. 18, a fifth type of conventional LED cable light has a substrate strip (55), a printed circuit (551), surface mounted technology (SMT) LEDs (56) and an insulation layer (57). The printed circuit (551) is formed on the substrate strip (55). The SMT LEDs (56) are connected to the printed circuit (551), and the insulation layer (57) covers the substrate strip (55), the printed circuit (551) and LEDs (56). The LEDs (56) are connected to the printed circuit (551) so the substrate strip (55) having the printed circuit (551) must be required. Therefore, the fifth type of conventional LED cable light has complex fabricating process and has a relatively high cost.
The conventional LED cable lights either are not waterproof or affordable or cannot be easily cut and joined. Therefore, the present invention provides a flexible LED cable light to achieve the aforementioned features.